The present invention relates to the field of anchors for watercraft, and more particularly to a self-righting plow anchor that includes a float on a shank thereof to enable the anchor to quickly assume an upright orientation upon entering the water.
Anchors for watercraft should ideally become set quickly once the anchor is dropped in the water. Numerous anchor designs have been proposed that attempt to address this problem, such as the design shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,717. Many of these designs rely on some method of weighting the tip or tips of the anchor""s fluke so as to promote a tip-first entry into the bottom. Other designs attempt to shape the fluke so that the anchor will right itself when the anchor is dragged along the bottom, and therefore properly dig into the bottom more quickly.
Applicant has discovered that quick setting of an anchor may be enhanced by causing the anchor to assume the proper orientation during descent, rather than relying on reorienting the anchor once it has landed. However, self-righting anchor designs proposed to date have proven inadequate, unduly complicated, or ill-suited for smaller anchors intended for use with smaller watercraft. In addition, the prior art designs are slow to assume the upright orientation and/or have proven unreliable. For instance, the modified Danforth type anchor of the patent to Austin, U.S. Pat. No. 3,306,248, is a complicated anchor having many parts. Likewise, the spade type anchors of the patents to Billups, U.S. Pat. No. 3,067,715 and to Schrieber, U.S. Pat. No. 5,068,724, are unduly complicated. It is believed that none of these anchors have achieved commercial success.
In addition, it has been discovered that plow type anchors work well in situations where the bottom is soft, such as with sandy or muddy bottoms. Plow type anchors are characterized by a fluke that includes a plurality of side surfaces, at least two of which that are at an angle with respect to one another, and a pointed forward tip. For instance, the main part of the fluke in such anchors may be an inverted V cross-section with a taper from back to front so as to appear roughly triangular when viewed from the side. An example of this design is the anchor known as the Delta Fast Set sold by Simpson and Lawrence of England.
Despite the numerous anchor designs in the prior art, there remains a need for a self-righting anchor that can very quickly assume the proper orientation once dropped in the water from any orientation. And there is a particular need for plow type anchors having such a self-righting action.
The anchor of the present invention includes, inter alia, at least one plow-like fluke, a shank, and a float. The relative position of the float with respect to the center of gravity of the combined shank and fluke causes the anchor to assume a generally upright orientation quickly once the anchor is dropped in the water.
One end of the shank is connected to the fluke, preferably by direct attachment along a longitudinal axis of the fluke. The connection between the fluke and the shank is preferably not a rigid connection, but is instead a somewhat loose connection that allows for small lateral displacements of the far end of the shank without the fluke being displaced. The float is attached to a rearward portion of the shank, with the float""s center of buoyancy spaced away from the shank""s connection to the fluke. Preferably, the float is shaped and sized to fit within the footprint of the fluke when viewed from above.
Upon being put in the water, the anchor of the present invention quickly assumes a generally upright orientation, i.e., shank up and fluke down. Thus, the anchor of the present invention is suitable for very shallow water situations. Once in the generally upright orientation, the anchor may gently rock side to side with a pendulum-like action, with the tip of the fluke preferably being the lowest point of the anchor, during its descent to the bottom. When the anchor reaches a soft bottom, the tip of the fluke penetrates the bottom and the momentum of the anchor causes at least a portion of the fluke to bury into the bottom in a generally upright orientation. This setting of the anchor may be achieved in most or all situations without dragging the anchor along the bottom.
Such an anchor is particularly adapted for shallow water operation, such as in a sound or the like, and the plow-like shape of the fluke is adapted for soft bottom applications. In addition, the anchor""s simplicity of construction and effectiveness allows the anchor to be made economically in compact sizes while remaining effective. Thus, the present invention is particularly adapted for watercraft where storage space is a concern and for shallow water watercraft.